


Seven-Hundred and Fifty Five Years

by DivineVarod



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Aging, Caretaking, Established Relationship, Fluff, Love, M/M, Nursing, Rimmerworld, Stoke Me a Clipper, centuries, living too long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:38:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6623596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineVarod/pseuds/DivineVarod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time catches up with everyone, even holograms. But Lister loves his hologram all the more for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seven-Hundred and Fifty Five Years

Dave Lister stared at Arnold J. Rimmer's sleeping form and sighed sadly. He had to face facts: the man he was closest to in the entire universe was burning up. He had lived over seven hundred years as a hologram and was clocking up about seven-hundred and fifty five years in total. No-one should live that long, but Rimmer had and it had obviously damaged him badly.  
  
_Seven-hundred and fifty five years and Rimmer had loved him for seven hundred and twenty of them._  
  
The worst thing of it was that of all these centuries so little of these years had actually been spent together. Rimmer had spent most of his life in a prison. It still hurt Lister when he thought about it: almost six hundred years in jail, kept in the dark starved of company, only taken out to be tortured and humiliated. It had cost Lister a lot of care and patience to return his Hologram to some degree of normality after that. But then, just when he had, he had sent the man of to be Ace Rimmer. He had thought it was the right thing to do, that it would be good for him, even though Arnold had never wanted to go.  
Rimmer had returned a broken man after more than a hundred years, a shadow of himself. Yes, he had been a hero, but it had taken a great toll on his mind and body.  
  
Lister's life had changed ever since that return, his life had begun to revolve around Rimmer. He was a natural carer and looking after Rimmer had brought some meaning into his life.  
In the old days it was driving Rimmer crazy that kept him going, now he lived to make him happy. To stir a smile on that pale, tired face he loved so much. These days Rimmer smiled a lot more. Lister loved his smile.  
  
On bad days, usually after an extremely stressful event, Rimmer would have times when he was too weak, too exhausted, to get up in the morning. Lister would spend those days in bed with him.  
Lister had never told Rimmer as it might come across as insensitive – or selfish, but he loved those days. Snuggling up to Rimmer in bed watching corny old movies and musicals was his idea of heaven.  
  
When he had felt comfortable enough in the relationship Rimmer had finally admitted to loving musicals. Lister never told him he had always known, because he knew this confession was a huge step for Rimmer. But yes, he had: over the years Rimmer had often whistled or sang musical songs when he forgot himself or didn't know he was around. Soon after Rimmer had also stopped complaining about some of the more fluffy films and TV shows that Lister had never felt embarrassed about liking. Being loved gave Rimmer the freedom to stop pretending and just watch whatever the hell he wanted to see and not just things he felt he was expected to. Also, war movies were not snuggling in bed material.

  
Lister was as glad as anything as it meant he and his Hologram now had several millions of years of catching up to do. Lister did not want to ever lose these moments with Rimmer and neither Cat nor Kryten were allowed in their room on those days. Lister would get the food and look after his beloved Hologram. He had grown to love nursing Rimmer, which annoyed Kryten no end as he felt that was _his_ duty.  
Unaccustomed to being fussed over Rimmer delighted in Lister's doting. It more than brightened days that should by rights have been awful, to such an extend he sometimes seemed to look forward to them as much as Lister did.  
  
Today, though, Lister had other plans that involved being a little more active. He gently shook the sleeping man next to him.  
  
“Arnold, wake up … We're taking a trip.”  
  
“What …?” Rimmer mumbled sleepily.  
  
“I'm taking you on a trip, Arn.”  
  
Rimmer turned to look at him. His face had not aged much but his tired eyes betrayed the centuries he had lived.  
  
“Really?” He asked sleepily. “Where are we going?”  
  
Lister snuggled closer to him.  
  
“I know you like nature and Kryten discovered a holiday planet nearby. People used to go there for forest hikes. I thought we could have a pick-nick.”  
  
Rimmer sat up and kissed Lister.  
  
“I take it you like the idea?”  
  
“I've always wanted to go on a pick-nick” Rimmer beamed at him.  
  
Lister felt a pang of sadness. Seven-hundred and fifty five years and the man had barely done anything fun.  
  
“Get yourself ready then, we're going in three hours.”  
  
Rimmer smiled at him. Lister felt warm and held him close for a moment.  
  
Rimmer was so adorable when he smiled. Had he known how beautiful the Hologram looked when smiling with his entire face and eyes he'd have made damn sure the man had smiled from the day they'd met. Being loved had changed Rimmer's voice as well: he was more chatty, the bitterness had phased out. He could still be sarcastic sometimes, but Lister wouldn't want it any other way. The bitching and the tiny digs were what made them Rimmer and Lister.


End file.
